The jellyfish barge project is coordinated by the university of Florence and with Pnat s.r.l.

Swan Water Solutions will collaborate in the commercialization of the jelly fish barge concept and irrigation technology and optimization of substrate and crop yields.

The World bank predicts the grow of world population to will be almost 10 billion by the next four decades, thus in 2050 the global demand for food is expected to will be 60-70% higher that today.

Scarcity of water and cultivable land are the main obstacles to meet the quantitative and qualitative shifts of the world demand. Most of the potentially arable land is concentrated in a few geographical areas, while in many countries with high population growth, such as North Africa and de the Arabian Peninsula, it is extremely scarce.

Agricultura is the human activity that impact cause more on the existing water resources and currently in many parts of the world that like India, Pakistan an South Spain, the demand for water for agricultural purposes is satisfied by unsustainable methods such as over-extraction from underground reservoirs.

The scarcity of land and water is being exacerbated by climate changes exposing many areas to risks and contributing to make them even more vulnerable to water and food security. The rise of sea level, for example, contributes to flood with salt water extensive areas of fertile land. This phenomenon has already begun to occur with alarming frequency all over de Bay of Bengal.
Tackling tehese challenges in a holistic way can produce considerable improvement in water and food security of coastal communities. Jellyfish Barge is a module form crops cultivation that doesn´t rely on soil, fresh water an chemical energy consumption. Jellyfish Barge es a floating agricultural green house, able to purify salt, brackish or polluted water using solar energy. Jellyfish barge is built with low-cost technologies and simple materials,also appropriate to the self-construction paradigm. It consiste of a wooden base of about 70 square meters,floating on recycled plastic drums, supporting a glass greenhouse for crops cultivation. Inside the green house, and hydroponic high efficiency cultivation method provides up to 70 % of water savings compared to traditional cultures. The system has an innovative automated system with remote monitoring and control.
Required water is supplied by 7 solar desalination units arranged around the perimeter, able to produce up to 150 liters per day of clean fresh water from salt brackish, or polluted water. Solar distillation is a natural phenomenon: in the seas, the sun’s energy evaporates water, which then fall as rain water. In Jellyfish Barge the solar desalination system replicates this phenomenon in small-scale, sucking moist air an forcing it to condense into drums in contact with the cold surface of the sea.
The low energy required to power fans and pumps is provided by solar panels, mini wind turbines and an innovative system that exploits waves to produce electricity.
According to FAO, long therm successful strategies for agricultural development deep end on technological innovation as all as on the ability to responde effectively with limited resources. For this reason it has been designed relatively small in size, capable of supporting two about families, thus easy to build even in conditions of economic constrains. However, it is modular, so a single element is completely autonomous, while various flamed barges create a stronger and more resilient organism.